The pace of the series continues to follow my expectations, but it still feels rather slow.

We begin the episode with the flashback to what happened at the elven settlement.  So I guess they moved it up to this episode since nothing else was going to happen.

A majority of the first half of this episode is the refugees arriving at Arnus Hill and getting situated.

We get glimpses into Tyuka’s denial of her father’s death… and we also see that her name is translated as “Chuka,” which is just plain wrong.  You can CLEARLY hear her name being pronounced as TYU-ka, with a HARD T.  How the fuck do you come up with “Chuka?”  I’m just saying, Crunchyroll… I live in the bay area, I have a degree in journalism, and I’m trained in copy editing.  Give me a call.  I can help you out with your UQ Holder releases as well; I’ve come to expect an average of two typos per chapter from you.

I think the most important thing we see is how Lelei puts a lot of effort into learning about the Japanese language and customs.

We’re also introduced to Lieutenant Yanagida, who looks a LOT less slimy and a LOT more… bishie.

Okay, wow.  Gotta stop there.  Just LOOK at what they did to Yanagida.  Holy crap.  That’s the straw that broke the camel’s back, guys.  I have to say it: Everything about this adaptation is intended to make the franchise as marketable as possible.  Turning Kuribayashi into a moeblob, tuning down the violence a shit-ton, removing devious traits from female characters to make them more sympathetic… TURNING YANAGIDA INTO URYU ISHIDA?!

Itami gets into a bit of trouble for bringing the refugees in, but the higher ups accept them as a chance to learn more about their culture.

Oh, and fanservice episode, apparently.

We also shift back to Pina’s team (and she is now called Pina instead of Pinya… consistency, people!).  Pina meets with Lord Duran, which is one of the scenes I was looking forward to most.  It… disappointed greatly.

The talk between Pina and Duran was VERY different.  In the anime, Duran tells her that the allied forces’ defeat was due to the Empire’s scheming, and Pina tries to press him for more information on the JSDF.  In the manga, she downright threatens him, and Duran snaps back by mocking the Empire for causing their own demise by summoning this unstoppable enemy.  It’s one of the best scenes in the early chapters, and it’s completely ruined (and that’s surprising since I thought this scene was enhanced by fleshing out the allied battle in the second episode).  For what purpose?  To make Pina more palatable?

This is an adaptation that wants to take no risks.

Speaking of scenes that got ruined: the whole discussion about the refugees being allowed to gather dragon scales, which the JSDF see as worthless, but are high-priced in the Special Region.  It’s not like I have high standards or anything.  All I really wanted was this scene:

We wasted several good minutes of screentime on a pointless bath scene that only tells us 1) Indoor baths are a luxury,  2) Tyuka might have feelings for Itami, and 3) Lelei used to be part of a group of nomads.  That scene could have been kept, but reduced a LOT to extend the dragon scales scene.  We could have seen refugees harvesting the scales, learning about how much they cost, learning about the currency of the Special Region, the above scene where they realize how filthy stinking rich they now are… Good gawd… The fact that it felt like nothing happened in this episode has nothing to do with pacing… it’s how they fill up their time!  I mean, let’s look at the scene where Kuribayashi kicks Itami to get his attention.  The whole gag of him ignoring the girls goes on 10 seconds too long.  It doesn’t sound like much, but that’s important time that could have been spent for one quick gag somewhere else.  Now let’s look at an even worse offender: the chat between Itami and Yanagida.  Look at how much effort is put into the sheets blowing in the wind, how drawn out the conversation is, how pointlessly dynamic the animation is when he does a simple thing like shift from a leaning position to a standing position.  THIS IS ALL EFFORT THAT COULD HAVE BEEN PLACED ELSEWHERE, ON SCENES PEOPLE WOULD GIVE A FUCK ABOUT.

So anyway, let’s wrap this up.  The Diet wants Itami to report on the dragon incident, but he’s already on his way to Italica.  Bum bum bummmmm…

Ultimately, I’m entertained enough to follow the rest of this series, but I just HAVE to let my gripes be known.  It’s frustrating that an adaptation can make so many missteps that are so EASILY avoidable, but it’s especially frustrating just how blatantly COMMERCIAL it’s trying to be.